bissell



(N0 Model.) 2 Sheets--SheetA 1.

S. BISSBLL. METALLURGIOAL FURNAGB.

No. 286,110. Patented Oct. 2, 18.83.

N. PETERS. Phew-L wn "gwn, D. C.

(No Model.) u 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

S. BISSELL.

METALLURGIGAL FURNACE.

Patented Oot. '2, 1883.

No. 286,110l

Fife?.

@fr-'Ji NITED STATES PATENT Oiuucno SIMEON BISSELL, OF PITTSBURG,PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THOMAS BAKEWELL, TRUSTEE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 286,110, dated October2, 1883. Application filed December l5, 1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, SIMEON BissELL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State ofPennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved llfetallurgical Furnace,of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a superior means whereby crudeiron may be rapidly melted, purified, andl converted into various gradesof steel or brous wroughtiron; and for the accomplishment of my purposeit is better that the furnace should be so constructed as to obtain thegreatest amount of heat from a given quantity of fuel, and that suchheat should be as free as possible from matter that may act in jnriously upon the iron. To this end I prefer a furnace that isconstructed to make and consume gaseous fuel, and is )rovided with oneor more regenerators77 applied to receive the waste heat andsubsequently communicate the same to the air supporting combustion.

My invention relates, among other things, to a furnace provided with asuitable chamber for producing gaseous fuel by a slow combustion or drydistillation of carbonaceous matter, which gaseous fuel, on beingeliminated, is conducted directly into a melting or metal workingchamber, mingled with a requisite quantity of air heated to a degree oftemperature necessary for bringing about a perfect combustion andgenerating an intense flame, the

superfluous heat or unused products of combustion passing from thenceinto and through a regenerator or third chamber filled withopenly-arranged fire-brick or other refractory material, eventuallyescaping by way of the chimney. Heretofore all such regenerators havebeen constructed rigidly immovable, requiring an intricate system offines, dampers, valves, and valve-chests to bring about a change in thecurrent of air from a cool regenerator to one containing greater heat,which transfer reverses the direction of the current of air, so that itenters first at one end ofthe furnace and then at the other, which formany purdouble-chambered regenerator, so constructed as to admit ofbeing rotated the requisite distance to bring one of its chambers intothat position whereby the air for supporting combustion shall passthrough it on its way to the furnace, and the other chamber in suchposition that the flame and heated products of combustion escaping fromthe furnace shall go through" it before entering the chimney, and whensuch chamber becomes intensely hot the regenerator may be turned orrotated till its chambers reciprocally change places with relation tothe furnace and the chimney, so that the current of ingoing air iscaused to traverse the heated chamber, and the flame through the onewhich the air previously passed through, and thus the chambers arealternately heated and impart their heat to the air without requiring analteration in the direction of the current.

The second part of my invention consists in a combination, with themelting or Working chamber 'of a gas-burning regenerative metallurgicalfurnace, of one or more tuyeres so arranged with respect thereto that apowerful blast of air, either by itself or mingled with other matter,may be forced upon and into a body of molten metal contained within suchchamber, which blast, by means of suitable valves, may be regulated,controlled, and adapted to the requirements of making steel, or admittedwith a force sufficient to disturb and agitate the molten iron enoughfor reduc ing it to a condition known as puddle-ball,

thus avoiding physical labor incident to the making of fibrouswrought-iron by the ordinary puddling process.

To enable others to fully understand my invention, l will proceed todescribe it by reference to the accompanying drawings, where-` ll1Figure 1 represents a side elevation of my improved metallurgicalfurnace; Fig. 2, a central longitudinal vertical section thereof; Fig.3, a top view, partly in horizontal section, Fi 0. 4, a transverseverticalsection taken through the melting or working chamber and one ofits tuyeres, Fig. 5, an end view ofthe regenerator, its shell partlybroken away to exhibit the interior.

i Myinvention is applicable to a furnace burn- IOO ing solid fuel but lprefer to apply it to one wherein a gaseous fuel is used, and to'thatcommunicating with the gas-inlet d.

end I erect a gas-producer, c, of suitable size and form, and connecttherewith a furnace, b, having..a circular basin, c, and provide thesame with the usual port or passage-way, d,

for the gas and outlet e forthewaste products v of combustion, and inaddition thereto with a horizontal airway, f, extending from the rear'end of the furnace underneath the basin of the combustion-chamber b intoa vertical fine, g,

Back of this furnace, between it and the'chimney h, is

arranged my improved regenerator, the shell of which is constructed ofstrong iron plates riveted together to form a large dru 11i-shapedvessel, k, througheaeh head of which are two oblong holes, m m. Thisshell is lined with highly refractory material, and is provided with astrong wall, n, extending from side to side across its axis to form twosemicircular chambers, p, each being lled withfire-brick, arranged inopen order to leave small interstices between them, arranged in such vamanner as to constitute a number of sinuous andv l tation may be broughtabout by suitable gearing or any means found in practice more effectiveor expeditious by which a partial or complete rotation may be given.This regenerator is to be arranged with relation to the furnace, so thatwhen working one of the'holes m nearest its axis shall coincide with theexitfiuc c of the combustion-chamber c and the other hole m with theair-passage f underneath. One of the holes m in the opposite end of theregenerator, when brought to that point, will correspond to the flue ofthe chimney h, while the other hole will be open to the atmosphere. L

The regenerator having been constructed and combined with the furnace,as shown and set forth, and a fire built in the producer or gasretort a,and its walls brought' to a proper heat, fresh coal is to be introducedthrough the hopper w, and sufficient air admitted to lsustain a slowcombustion of the coal, and

thereby generate rich combustible gases, which pass through thegas-channel d and enter the combustion-chamber c at a low heat, minglingwith the air entering by way of the vertical passage g, producing aflame that, vafter traversing the combustion-chamber, passes out by theexit-flue into that portion of the regenerator in a position` to receiveit, and, after coursing through the sinuous interstices between thebricks, escapes by way of the chimney. As soon as these bricks becomehighly heated, the regenerator may be revolved to change the relativeposition of its chambers,

ling air.

melting and working chamber to becomehighly heated. Upon the superfluousproducts of this violent combustion entering the regenerator, the secondpile of bricks are in turn heated, but to agreater degree and soonerthan the first, so that by the time those' through which the air ispassi ng have somewhat cooled, the second chambermayvbe brought intoaction and made to do duty in imparting their increased temperature tothe ingo- This furnace is provided with a door, ai, that leads into itsmelting and working chalnber, the basinc of which is circular andpreferably saucer-shaped, and through each side thereof is arranged at adownward inclination a water-tuyere, y, located above the molten metaland at right angles to a line drawn through the center of the basin andlengthwise of the furnace, and otherwise so placed that the blastissuing therefrom will take a forced circula-1l direction around thesides of the basin. These tuyeres g/ are provided with the usual inlet,fi, and outlet pipes for supplying them with a running stream ofwater-and in that respect, outside of the use I make of them, are nowisedifferent from those of ordinary construction. Inserted in each tuyereis the noz- Zle j of a blast-pipe, Z, that is furnished with avalve, q,for admitting and controlling the quantity and force of blast. And, inaddition to the air-pipe Z, the nozzles are severally provided with aslnall steam-supply pipe, e, and

valve c, for purposes hereinafter set forth. To lessen or stop thecurrent of heated air passing into the furnace, a sliding damper, o,

is arrangcdin the air-passagef at any conven-v ient-point between theregenerator and the combustion-chamber.

Theseveral parts of my improved metallurgical furnace having beenconstructed, combined, and arranged with respect to each other as shownand set forth, and the melting or lworking chamber having attained thenecessary degree of heat, pig-iron or other character of ferruginousmetal to be operated on is to be introduced within the melting-chamberin a quantity sufficient tofmake a charge consistent with the size ofthe furnace, which meta-l will soon be brought to a molten condition sofluidl as to be readily penetrated by a concentrated strong blast of airdirected upon its surface. Vhen the metal is in this condi- I TO.

tion, if a sufficiently strong blast of air be forced through thetuyeres, it will not only penetrate the molten mass, but, owing to theirpeculiar arrangement thereto, will cause such ticle of the ironwill in ashort time be brought under the influence of the flame; and such is theaffinity of oxygen for highly-heated carbon that the fullforce of theblast cannot be continued very long before most of the carbon andforeign matter contained within the iron is either dissipated orconverted into gaseous oxide that passes away. As this takes place themetal becomes finer by degrees, reduced, as it were, to a state ofincoherent sand. Vhen in this condition, if the blast be shut off orlessened and the heat augmented, the particles of metal will begin toagglutinate, and nothing remains but to gather the iron into balls,whichare subsequently removed and taken away to undergo the usual operationof squeezing and rolling necessary to condense, shape, and fit it forthe market as fibrous wrought-iron.. Vhen low-grade steel is to be theproduct, the fluid mass of molten metal may be gently or viol cntlystirred by means of either a hot or cold blast, and a small jet of steammay be momentarily admitted, either by itself or withy the blast, which,on coming in contact with the molten iron, will combine with `thesulphur contained therein and form sulphureted-hydrogen gas that escapeson being disengaged, and when at any period ofthe process a smoky orcarbonizing flame is desirable, the same maybe had by closing thehot-air passage leading from the regenerator to the combustionchamber.As crude iron contains much more carbon than is found in steel, theblast is principally employed to combine with and eliminate the excess;but asno rule has been established or plan laid down for determining theprecise period when the amount of carbon has been removed. from themolten iron to leave it with the exact quantity suitable for steel, itbecomes wholly a matter of test and experience, varying greatly with thecharac` ter and quality of iron, and for that reason cannot be describedor set down with any degree of certainty in this spccication.

It is apparent that when natural gas or gas previously produced andstored in a reservoir y I prefer the construction shown, I claim,

broadly, the combination by which this result may be obtained.

Having thus described my improved metallurgical furnace and the mode oftreating iron therein, I claiml. rIhe combination, with a gas-producerand the working-chamber of a furnace, of a revoluble regeiicrator andmeans of rotating the same, substantially as described.

2. rllhe combination, Vin ametallurgie furnace, of a gas-producer, ametal-working chamber provided with side tuyeres, and a rcvolubleregenerator connected with the producer and working-chamber,substantially as described.

3. The combination of a gas-producer, a metal-working chamber providedwith side tuyeres, a regeneratcr and means for rotating it, andconnections, as described.

a. rllhe combination ofthe worki ug-chaml'icr of a furnace with amovable regeilerator capa blc of having its chambers shifted to afford.passage for the inflowing air and outflowing products ol.' combustionalternately, substaii` tiallyr as and for the purposes described.

Slt/[EON BISSELL. lVitnesses:

JosIAHi XV. lGLLs, l. C. Pensi-UNG.

